Can you recommend a pushchair suitable for walking & public transport?

[Mikaeladev]

Hi!

Our Teutonia Fun just broke and we are looking for a new pushchair for our 8 months old daughter. Since we will be moving from Stockholm to London in September we would of course like to buy a pushchair suiteble for London.

What I understand, you cannot always bring your pushchair onto the bus unfolded, and I know there aren't elevators or escelators at all the tubestations. In Stockholm it is so easy to get around with a pushchair, so I haven't really considered the lightness or easyfolding in our first buy, but I guess I have to now?

I've searched and read some about the Micralite being a good choice. Do you have one? Do you like it? Can you have your child faced towards you? Can you recline it so the baby lays flat? It looks kind of small, when do a child outgrow it? What's the underneath storage like?

How is the Bugaboo Bee? Will she outgrow it quickly?

Wich pushchair would you say is the best for London? We do have a car, but we also use public transport frequently. But above all we walk a lot.

Any answers are much appriceated!

Thank you!

[BleachedWhale]

McLaren XT
Very easy to push and manouvre, very easy to fold.

[MoChan]

I'm a big fan of my McLaren Volo, because it has a shoulder strap on it, so v. easy to transport, over your shoulder, once folded. Very light weight, of course, therefore not that sturdy. But it's the one I always take into London with me...

[EldonAve]

bee+ would probably be fine
otherwise a maclaren quest or triumph

[Mikaeladev]

Thank you!
Are you able to have your child facing you in the McLarens?

[EldonAve]

no maclarens are umbrella fold forward facing

[AstraMummy]

I would go for the Baby Jogger city mini in your situation. Amazing quick fold and good walker. Hope this helps

[multimummy]

I would use either baby Jogger city mini as it lays flat and provides a lot of confort for the child with it's comfy generous seat and large hood. Really fast to fold and easy to carry.
Or i would look at the Micralite superlite which is comfy because the seat is like a hammock and the rear wheels make it great for walking. It is also very very light to carry and really easy to push.
The baskets on both these pushchairs are quite generous but you'd still have to empty them to fold the pushchairs.

[multimummy]

The Micralite doesn't lay flat. It does recline enough for 2 comfy sleep for 2 baby of over 6 months age.
Neither Micralite or baby Jogger will be parent facing.
Bugaboo bee will parent face. Is a lot more expensive though at over £400. Baby Jogger city mini is about £189 and Micralite superlite £137.

[IMoveTheStars]

Another vote for the baby jogger here too, excellent fold for lugging around on the tube

www.babyjogger.com/city_mini_sngl_dtl.aspx

quick fold

[Mikaeladev]

Baby Jogger city mini looks like a real contender. I've never tried one with 3 wheels before, no risc it's a bit... wobbly?

[Skegness]

Hiya. I'm a Londoner with a 9 month old daughter and just wanted to say that in practice hardly anyone ever folds their buggy on London transport. I reckon weight (as light as possible for carrying up and down stairs so you are not embarrassed when kind people offer to help you) and footprint (as small as possible so as not to annoy other passengers) are way more important than ease of folding for public transport. Also stability and good breaks are a must. I was using a macclaren quest on buses till quite recently but stopped when it tipped backwards with my daughter in it when the bus turned the corner pretty sharply (miraculously she slept through this despite generally being the worst sleeper in the world!). It was too lightweight, I think.

I now have an icandy cherry (in blue) and love it. It's been on all kinds of buses, trains, tubes and dlr so far with no problems at all. It's nice to push, parent facing, light enough to carry upstairs alone (though in practice someone always helps, I find), small footprint, comfortable for the baby, reclines, has good shopping basket, looks nice, is not as ubiquitous (or expensive) as the bee (everyone in my area of London has a bee!). Granted, the fold is not great (I think- have actually never tried to fold it ever) but that simply doesn't matter for my needs.

The bjcm looks great but I'd definitely check the "footprint" (as triangular can mean longer sometimes) and its likely stability on a bumpy ride. (I imagine both are fine but would want to check.) I really am still (pathetically) loving gazing at my daughter as I walk along though and if that's a consideration for you still I did want to reassure you that fold is not necesarily top priority for London transport so you could definitely consider some of the smaller parent facing options.

[nicm]

at the teutonia breaking! is it still not under warranty? i was going to recommend a small teutonia, i have the s3 but would be a bit big for public transport...

[Mikaeladev]

Skegness:
Thank you, that's really helpful. Someone told me you had to fold your buggy on buses, that's what scared me a bit. But if you don't have to, the footprint is, as you say, more important. Will check the icandy cherry out. The Bee is, I think, a bit overpriced...

nicm:
Unfourtunately we bought it second hand...

[Skegness]

Glad it was helpful, Mikaeladev. I think the person who told you that folding was a necessity perhaps hasn't been on London transport for a while. My older (twin) children are 11 so we have had rather a gap and I am very pleasantly surprised at how much things have changed, especially on the buses. Almost all buses can take at least 2 unfolded buggies and some types of bus can take more. People travel with absolutely mahoosive prams on the bus all the time and few if any eyebrows are raised. Of course, the spaces are occasionally full with other buggies and wheelchair users quite rightly have priority so you could potentially face a fold or wait for next bus situation at busy times but, surprisingly, it's not that common. Where abouts in London are you moving to, btw?

[Mikaeladev]

Skegness:
Good to hear about the buses. When I've been to London before it's been without children, so I haven't really thought about it.

Where we're going to live. Well that's something I would like to know as well We're not sure yet. We've been looking in and around the Hampstead-area since my husband is going to work in Marylebone and everyone says it's really childfriendly around there. And expensive, I've noticed...

It's hard when you have absolutely no idea how the areas are, and when one street can bee absolutely lovely and the one right next to it kind of horrendus.

Someone adviced us to have a look at Queens Park as well. And someone else recommended Mill Hill.

I used to live in London a couple of years ago, but not with children obviously. I then lived in Chiswick and quite liked it. But this time we're keen to try somewhere else.

Where abouts do you live?